Maryland, Thursday 29/08/13

On Tuesday, the first challenge was getting to the airport from our digs in Henderson, Las Vegas. This meant calling a taxi. We said goodbye to Shana, our hostess, who went off to a court hearing. Googling the taxi companies led me to believe that they were a pack of criminals, however we finally settled on Desert Cabs. The dispatcher said the taxi would pick us up shortly after 11am, so I waited outside for him, praying that there'd be no hitches. Seconds before he arrived, Shana returned and said she'd take us to the airport! I tipped the cab driver for his trouble, and Shana duly delivered us to McCarran International, where we checked our cases. We were glad to be leaving LV - what we had learned about the place and what we saw was not very encouraging!

After some lunch, we boarded our plane, which left the gate in good time, taxied out to the tarmac, and then returned to the gate. A technical hitch delayed us, so we arrived an hour late into Baltimore. It was so good to see Dave Houghton waiting for us at the baggage carousel. In no time, we had our cases, and set off on the long drive to the Houghtons' place at Tall Timbers, MD, arriving there at around 12:20am their time (3 hours later than our body clocks).

They live in a lovely waterside location in the "Landings" estate, in a house rented from the Admiral who commands the Patuxent ('Pax') River naval base, and who now lives in style on the base. Here's the front, with Grace:

And the rear deck, with Carmel.

The view down the back yard is hard to take:

(The water is an inlet of the Potomac River)

Next morning, Thursday, after Grace had gone to school (Lachlan is away on a two-day school camp), and Dave to work, Carmel took us for a drive down to St George Island. On our way back to visit the shopping centre, we were going to drive past the base when Dave rang, and invited us to drive in and pick him up. There had been a 'change of command' ceremony, and his section was open for inspection!

So we were able to see a number of aircraft which were present for testing by the base staff, including the new P8 Poseidon reconnaissance/anti-submarine warfare plane (a modified Boeing 737), and actually enjoy a conducted tour of this high-tech machine by Lt Colonel Houghton, here pictured with his wife Carmel, standing beside the P8.

Then it was to Khols store where we found shoes and shorts for Dad which were desperately needed and some other goodies. Driving home through the picturesque countryside was lovely. They grow corn and soya beans here and there are pretty red barns everywhere. We walked to the 'beach ' later, not very far away where the Potomac River is SO big it looks like the ocean. There were jellyfish visible in the water so swimming is not an option at this time of year. The children enjoy using a kayak though and, and fishing is a productive pastime.

In the evening Edd and Jennifer Cathey came for dinner. Edd is the OPC pastor of the congregation where Houghtons are members, so it was lovely to meet them, and together we enjoyed David's super smoked pork 'butt.' Edd knows Grace whom we plan to visit in Philly, but he had heard she was quite ill so we are trying to get more info and may have to modify our plans a bit.